Mechanoid

Macbook Pro 1,1 Battery Woes

2011-04-13T22:33:00.003-04:00

I still get 45 minutes or so out of my 4+ year old battery. However, the one I bought to replace it, about 18 mo ago, it's now a brick. The worst value I've ever gotten out of a battery (33 cycles), and it started failing just around 13 mo, (right outside warranty). I just didn't realize it, and the mac didn't warn me, yet it's been telling me for 2 years to service my original battery. I dare Apple to give their batteries an 18 mo warranty.

Any tips on rebuilding it myself or a 3rd party that makes something reliable? I'd only get 2+ hours out of a new one anyway, since my mbp is the first gen.

Original Battery from late 2006:

Model Information:
Manufacturer: Sony
Device name: ASMB012
Pack Lot Code: 0003
PCB Lot Code: 0000
Firmware Version: 102a
Hardware Revision: 0400
Cell Revision: 0303
Charge Information:
Charge remaining (mAh): 2934
Fully charged: Yes
Charging: No
Full charge capacity (mAh): 3043
Health Information:
Cycle count: 99
Condition: Check Battery
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): 0
Voltage (mV): 12331

Replacement battery from mid-2009:

Model Information:
Manufacturer: Sony
Device name: ASMB012
Pack Lot Code: 0001
PCB Lot Code: 0000
Firmware Version: 0110
Hardware Revision: 0500
Cell Revision: 0303
Charge Information:
Charge remaining (mAh): 0
Fully charged: No
Charging: No
Full charge capacity (mAh): 0
Health Information:
Cycle count: 33
Condition: Replace Now
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): 0
Voltage (mV): 6505

Learning Ruby with Ruby Koans

2011-04-10T21:43:00.003-04:00

Ruby Koans

I've gotten through more than half of the Ruby Koans in the past few weeks. Around the 174th test, the developer is asked to implement a method that solves a trivial problem. I would have liked to make the solution more simple, but this is what I could come up with, based on my current Ruby skill level.

# Greed is a dice game where you roll up to five dice to accumulate
# points.  The following "score" function will be used calculate the
# score of a single roll of the dice.
#
# A greed roll is scored as follows:
#
# * A set of three ones is 1000 points
#
# * A set of three numbers (other than ones) is worth 100 times the
#   number. (e.g. three fives is 500 points).
#
# * A one (that is not part of a set of three) is worth 100 points.
#
# * A five (that is not part of a set of three) is worth 50 points.
#
# * Everything else is worth 0 points.
#
#
# Examples:
#
# score([1,1,1,5,1]) => 1150 points
# score([2,3,4,6,2]) => 0 points
# score([3,4,5,3,3]) => 350 points
# score([1,5,1,2,4]) => 250 points
#
# More scoring examples are given in the tests below:
#
# Your goal is to write the score method.

def get_score_for_matching_roll(potential_roll, dice)
single_scores = {1=>100, 5=>50}
  triple_score_multipliers = {1=>1000}
  single_scores.default = 0
  triple_score_multipliers.default = 100
  triples_singles = dice.find_all { |roll| roll == potential_roll }.size.divmod(3)
  triples_singles[0]*triple_score_multipliers[potential_roll]*potential_roll +
          triples_singles[1]*single_scores[potential_roll]
end

def score(dice)
  # You need to write this method
  score = dice.uniq.inject(0) { |score, potential_roll|
    score + get_score_for_matching_roll(potential_roll, dice)
  }
end

Adobe Flex Development - Personal Retrospect

2011-03-16T23:12:00.008-04:00

I occasionally start small projects for friends or family. I intentionally use technology I have not used before in order to learn new things. The client gets something, I learn something new. It's nice also, because it forces me to finish the projects.

Last year, I started writing a small application using the Adobe Flex SDK, (version 4, even though it was just beta when I started). The app simply streams audio and flips slide images, a Flex/AS3 component, or a customizable automatically-generated questionnaire/quiz at defined timestamps. All of this is configured through a reasonably small XML file, all via the network.

The first problem I ran into was finding a decent development environment. Adobe's Flex Builder, (based on Eclipse, now called Flash Builder), had few nice features but also some things I couldn't live with. For what it provided on top of basic Eclipse, which was almost nothing, the price was robbery.

Problems with Flash Builder 4

It hid some of the build details too much. Flash Builder provided almost no help in writing an appropriate build/ant file. Since I wanted to be able to build from the command-line, it was not very useful to me. Lesson: Don't expect Flash Builder to jumpstart you if you are a power user. Once you leave the dock, you'll need to paddle.

Flash Builder had no source code formatting for ActionScript, other than automatic indentation as you enter it. I don't want to spend my time formatting all of the code. I found several options, the best of which was a plugin for Eclipse/Flex Builder. However, they were all based on older versions of Flex and ActionScript 2, which had significant changes in Flex 4 and could not be used. Lesson: I am sure they will support this, if Flash Builder 4 doesn't already support it in the current build, because without source formatting (i.e. you just refactored and indentation is no longer consistent), development is annoying.

Alternative Flex Editors

After several hours, I realized that my favorite Java IDE, Intellij Idea, supported Flex files. It even provided Source Code formatting for ActionScript 3. Since I had to write the build scripts/xml anyway, Intellij Idea turned out to be the ideal environment. As a mac user, TextMate is also pretty good, but at the time, still no easy source formatting for the latest ActionScript was available.

I was pretty surprised that IntelliJ was the best option, for Flex 4, at the time. I could debug, build, format source, run tests. I had more functionality from a third party, for a fraction of the price, than from the vendor alone.

Problems with Flex 4, ActionScript 3

As if tracking down suitable development tools wasn't time-consuming enough, there are several traps in Flex/ActionScript that make the experience a little more bitter for a newcomer.

Many calls in ActionScript are asynchronous and have to be designed with concurrency in mind. The problem is that it's not always completely clear which calls are async. You can safely say that IO calls, such as HTTP and File requests, are async. Many things that I expected to be synchronous, (next line of code doesn't execute until the current line is done), were async, due to one or more of their dependencies being async. Lesson: Just use events (callbacks would be better) as much as possible. I got much better at this, but even examples in Adobe's live docs, (the main cause for my headaches), were only applicable in certain cases and very misleading.

I hit a few bugs, where certain features I was using could only be called in certain ways, not in all of the ways shown in the docs. And that was fine when I was using the beta SDK. But in the fall of 2010, when I finished up, Flex 4 was released, I expected less issues. Lesson: Stay glued to the forums. Unit Test your code.

Summary

I don't have many issues anymore, although I still use Idea to develop instead of Flash Builder. My experience was a first impression. I mostly got over the language, SDK problems, much of it my own design errors. But Flash Builder needs some serious improvement.

As simple as my app was, I think it had a few aspects that forced me out of my shell and it didn't give me a server backend to depend on as much, as the client is (capable of) doing more. It's quite possible that I was a tad ambitious for a first app.

Unfortunately, I waited months to finish this post so I'll have to come back with the specific bugs/issues with the language, after reviewing my notebook.

MacHeist

2009-03-25T20:58:00.004-04:00

Essentially, MacHeist is a yearly Mac-themed software event. It starts out with some puzzles, or missions and ends with release of a bundle of shareware for the Mac, for a cost of around $40. A percentage of the bundle sales goes toward charity and some bundled apps are only unlocked after a certain sales target is reached.

The missions are time-sensitive challenges. Each mission, or nanomission, has a briefing with clues on how to proceed. To follow the clues, you may have to decode a cryptogram, solve a puzzle or riddle, or even overlay images to find a hidden image.

Fortunately, forums provide a way for people to interact as they progress through the missions and allow users to help each other when they get stuck. The missions for 2009 were very well produced. I enjoyed them much better than previous years.

At the end of each (nano)Mission, users receive loot, i.e. one or more free apps.

After the missions are over, a bundle is released. The bundle usually contains a couple of decent applications and several okay apps, but all-in-all it's a reasonable deal.

Java 1.6 on a 32-bit Core Duo Mac

2009-03-16T22:01:00.011-04:00

I have a first generation Macbook Pro (Core Duo 2.0 GHz, 2.0G, etc) with Mac OS X 10.5.X. It's a really nice machine and has held up well for the past couple of years. It works beautifully.

Everything works well, except Apple doesn't support Java 1.6 on 32-bit Intel Macs, which applies to the Core Duo. My primary skillset, (other than UNIX/Linux), revolves around Java. I admit, I was about to sell my laptop and head to the Apple Store, when I found a few links that can ease the pain.

I found a link on Tomas Varaneckas', (Paranoid Engineering), blog about SoyLatte, a Java 6 release for Mac OS X based on a FreeBSD patchset.

I am going to assume you have basic UNIX command knowledge. I opened a Terminal, and changed to the JavaVM.framework/Versions directory.

cd /System/Library/Frameworks/JavaVM.framework/Versions/

I uncompressed and extracted the files from the intel 32-bit soylatte*tar.gz archive.

bunzip2 -c ~/Downloads/soylatte16-i386-1.0.3.tar.bz2 | sudo tar xvf -

I renamed 1.6/Home to 1.6/Home.bak and symlinked the soylatte directory to 1.6/Home.

sudo mv 1.6/Home 1.6/Home.bak
cd 1.6
sudo ln -s ../soylatte16-i386-1.0.3 Home

There is general information in the links above for how to use the SoyLatte JDK. I use IntelliJ Idea and Eclipse for Java development. I simply point the IDE configuration to the 1.6 directory to add the JDK.

Pasting Unformatted Text in Word by default

2008-08-25T22:45:00.005-04:00

As I was editing a document today, I was reminded by how much I despise the operation of <ctrl>-<v>, (paste), in Microsoft Word. Key shortcuts for paste (<ctrl>-<v>) will always paste Formatted Text. But 99% of the time, I want unformatted text. Even if I wanted formatted text, what are the odds I would want to use the same format in the new document as what is in the clipboard?

Unfortunately, the approach I ended up with involved adding a Macro and assigning <ctrl>-<shift>-<v> as the key shortcut.

1. The link below has more on adding a macro to Office. I added mine to the Normal.dot template, which might cover all documents, as it's the default template type.

http://www.gmayor.com/installing_macro.htm

2. The following link as the code for a macro to paste unformatted text from the clipboard.

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Microsoft-Word-1058/Pasting-unformatted-text-default.htm

3. Assign a key shortcut. I recommend <ctrl>-<shift>-<v>.

http://misterslimm.wordpress.com/2007/07/17/microsoft-word-paste-special-as-unformatted-text-keyboard-shortcut-2/

You should now be able to use <ctrl>-<shift>-<v> to paste unformatted text!

Symlink Functionality on Windows (NTFS) With Junction Points

2008-08-08T22:40:00.015-04:00

Junction Points in NTFS 3.0+ allow you to make one or more links to a folder that acts like the folder itself.

As I must use Microsoft Windows at work, I have greatly missed the joys of a UNIX platform. Until I started my present job, I was able to have a Linux or Solaris computer as my main computer for work, (and home!).

Since I joined an enormous corporate environment, I must comply with the corporate standards. Surprising to some of you, I can be compliant. Stop laughing! It just means I need to sanity hack[1] at home.

One feature that was dear to me on UNIX was the symlink, (symbolic link). Similar to windows shortcut, but virtually indistinguishable from an actual file or directory. You can still tell it is a link, but you can copy, rename and change directory (cd) into as if it was a normal directory. In reality, a symlink is a pointer to another file or directory. When you access the symlink, the computer knows to look at the actual location it points to. Read the wikipedia entry for more info.

I use a symlink to the current Groovy directory on my Mac. It looks like the following on MacOSX.

jmac:~ jalex$ls -ld /opt/groovy*
lrwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 12 Jun 21 19:08 /opt/groovy@ -> groovy-1.5.6
drwxr-xr-x 9 root wheel 306 Feb 1 2008 /opt/groovy-1.5.4/
drwxr-xr-x 9 root wheel 306 Apr 25 16:00 /opt/groovy-1.5.6/
jmac:~ jalex$ cd /opt/groovy
jmac:/opt/groovy jalex$ pwd
/opt/groovy
jmac:/opt/groovy jalex$ ls
ASM-LICENSE.txt NOTICE.txt conf/ lib/
LICENSE.txt bin/ embeddable/

Junction Points!
This week, I found out that Microsoft indeed has similar functionality to the symlink, which Microsoft calls a junction. Here is a knowledgebase note from Microsoft on how to use it. You can actually mount shared drives to a junction point, but you should read the Microsoft Help and Support link above if you are crazy like that.

Two basic commands to deal with junction points:

linkd - You can create the junction point.

linkd \mydesktop %user profile%\desktop

delrp - to delete the junction point. The folder it points to remains intact.

delrp \mydesktop

Now you may treat \mydesktop as any other directory, (unless you want to delete it).

dir \mydesktop
cd \mydesktop
copy \temp\file.txt \mydesktop

Try it out.

Tangents
I abandoned Linux, after 11 years, for my main home computer and bought a Mac, which hides a BSD-based UNIX environment behind the pretty interface. I am an Apple fanboy now, with a little part of me still attached to Linux. I never really had windows as my primary home environment, because I depend on things it does not have. I used a text-based email client, elm or mutt, until only a couple of years ago when I experienced gmail (Google Mail).

If the cost is not outside of your budget, consider a Mac. Especially if you automate tasks with scripts or batch files. The Macs are more than just fashionable. They are more simple, reliable and flexible than windows. But if you have to use windows, there is VMWare and VirtualBox to help you install a nice copy of Xubuntu on it for the Linux fun you really want. MacOS X doesn't easily run on non-Apple hardware.

References:
Junction, UNIX, Xubuntu, VMWare, Mac, Solaris, Microsoft Windows, Google Mail,

[1] Sanity Hacking: to work on technology-related side-projects just to stay sane. I couldn't find an online reference, but Jared Richardson talked about it in his 2008 NoFluffJustStuff keynote titled "Career 2.0". I have a blog entry on this.

Used Guitar Buying Guide (for beginners)

2008-08-03T00:42:00.008-04:00

I went shopping for my first electric guitar this year. I wanted something affordable but nice enough that I won't feel like I have to replace it if, or when, I actually learn to play well. I already have an acoustic guitar, the basic music theory and techniques to play chords and strum. I had fingerstyle skills once, but after a few months of playing, I have not yet completely achieved the same level.

Shopping

1. Purchase in person, if possible. I found it to be true, that the same year, make, and model was different between individual guitars. I went into the stores expecting to buy something super cheap ($150) that did not look great but stayed in tune and had decent tone. Trying guitars out changed many of my opinions on guitars I had read about online.

2. Take another person with you on the final trip, especially if you expect to blow your budget. I took my father, who hears well but has never taken up playing a musical instrument. I was much more content with my purchase because my father could easily distinguish the differences between the last two guitars I was looking at, (Fender Strat American vs. the regular Standard).

3. Try Guitar Center, if you have one local. They are very accommodating and patient. Also, they had my guitar on sale two days after I bought it. I asked if I could have the sale price and the manager quickly agreed and I saved 10%.

Sam Ash and Guitar Center are both a block apart in my town, so I visited both. Guitar Center has a weird feel to it, especially the first time went there. However, they have amazing customer service at our local store. Sam Ash, on the other hand, could be a little more friendly and customer focused.

Trying Guitars Out

1. Use the same amp model and amp settings between guitars, but go through all of the guitar settings. I wasted a few hours where I failed to keep the same amp settings between guitars. I was not sure which guitars were better or worse, because each setting was different. I chose the Vox AD30VT amp and stuck with a couple of model presets.

2. Work with one guitar at a time at first. Once you have the decision narrowed down to a couple, set them close by and go back and forth. The closer together you try them, the more obvious are the differences.

3. If you are just learning and have no idea how to play, bring someone who can play to try guitars out for you. If that is not an option, then you'll need to lean on the salesperson's suggestions a little more. Another plus for Guitar Center, is that each time I visited their suggestions turn out to be pretty good for what I was looking for and consistent with online reviews.

Sources For Info

Youtube - there are hundreds of videos of people demonstrating a guitar or doing a comparison between two similar guitars.
MusiciansFriend.com - Online reviews.
GuitarCenter.com - Also has online reviews.
Google - do searches for a guitar you want to consider, such as "Fender Standard sucks". The "sucks" searches can help sometimes.
If you are looking for a crowdster plus, you should be helping me. Here's a cool video on one.

My Opinions

I asked for the amp as a gift based on online research and only tried out a couple in the store.
There is an enormous difference between the American Standard and the Standard Strat, which is made in Mexico. The materials, pickups are not the same. I found the American Standard Strat to have real depth in the tone, where the Standard Strat sounded okay but much more empty.

My Gear
Guitars: Takamine EG-10C acoustic electric, Fender American Standard Strat
Amp: Vox AD30VT

Image(s) from public domain - thanks to karenswhimsy.com.

Jared Richardson on Career 2.0

2008-07-26T15:13:00.013-04:00

In 2007, Scott Davis led one of the best NoFluffJustStuff keynote presentations I have attended. It was an amazing collection of technology wisdom, history and insight similar to watching episodes of Alton Brown in Good Eats, but about hardware and software. I remember frantically writing down all of the books, terms and references from his presentation. I followed up on those references to learn more. Scott's sense of humor is excellent and he is one of my favorite presenters.

Last night, Jared Richardson stood in front of a couple of hundred well-fed geeks at the Columbus NoFluffJustStuff event and gave us a snapshot of work he has been doing career 2.0 (click here to read more). It's wisdom, not just for computer programmers, but applicable in any field where there are specializations. He dropped a few ideas, only a few of which I will note.

You want options in your career? Be visible, grow, make measurable goals.
Ways to gain visibility and also to mature your skills and knowledge: write, teach and speak.
Write: Write in a blog, book or documentation for an open source project.
Teach: Write a tutorial, show others the knowledge you hone in your free time.
Speak: Practice, lock eyes, pause. Start locally. Consider toastmasters.

Jared did well! Despite tailing an amazing 2007 keynote, this years keynote was excellent and once again full of wisdom, history and insight regarding our crazy world. I even used my blog for once, since I now have good reasons to do so. Thank you, Jared and NoFluffJustStuff.

References:

BBP Hybrid Messenger bag for my macbook pro

2008-07-26T14:23:00.008-04:00

I received a obsidian black BBP Hybrid Messenger laptop bag for my birthday, (thank you, parental units!). These are known for their urbanomics because, as a backpack, the weight doesn't rest entirely on your shoulders.

Benefits:
First, as I have a macbook pro (15") laptop, I really can't afford to carry it around in something where it can easily get damaged. They are pricey!

Second, I really like all of the pockets on this laptop bag. It is inconvenient to dig through a pocket full of loose pencils, pens, change, notes, usb drives, cell phone batteries, AA batteries, mp3 player and other things. I like to have a place for things and keep them organized.

Lastly, the material is great and it is very comfortable to carry around. I have walked with the bag in a few minutes of heavy rain and every stays pretty dry, especially the laptop compartment. It's a very nice design.

Cons: It's a tad expensive, but not horribly overpriced. The laptop area is not quite as nice as some of the Brenthaven bags for protection. Also, with all of the pockets and straps and hookups, they add a little bulkiness to it, but very little.

Cost: They are about $95 on most websites, but I have seen many go for under $50 on ebay.

Summary: After a couple of months of use, I haven't had any problems with it or the laptop(s) I have carted around in it.

Deals, Discounts, Bargains for Lazy People

2008-07-26T11:00:00.014-04:00

Intro: Cut down on the time and effort to track websites that post deals, coupons, etc. Rather than visiting a dozen deals sites, (such as SlickDeals, Dealmac, Techbargains, Fatwallet, Deals2Buy), you could monitor all deals posted to these sites from one place.

Note: If you are new to using an RSS reader, please read on. There are other portal type sites and RSS readers, (aka aggregators), available but I will focus on tools from Google because it is what I decided on. The principles here apply to anything you want to monitor, like ebay, news, etc. I also watch technical blogs the same way.

1. Set up a Google account and go to Google Reader, if you do not already have an account. I use Google Reader through iGoogle, which allows a consolidated dashboard for the World Wide Web, (WWW).

2. Go to a website you want to watch and look for "RSS Feed", "RDF" or something similar. On Dealmac.com, it's difficult to find and I had to use the web browser find function to locate the link. This leads to an excellent list of RSS feeds for Dealmac at http://dealmac.com/rss.html. If you look at that page, you will see that you get a lot of choices.

3. Click on a feed. In Firefox, you should see a window that allows you to choose the RSS reader to use. If I wasn't lazy, I'd show you an IE example too, but if that's important to you you could add that information in a comment or let me know and I will add it.

4. Add the RSS feed to Google Reader (Firefox users, choose Google in the step above). You are essentially subscribing to the feed. After you have added some sites, you can manage the subscription, which allows you to organize the feeds under categories and rename them. Mine looks something like this:

5. While this saves you enough time already, you can then add Google Reader to your iGoogle page. You can do this through the Add Stuff... link on your iGoogle page. Mine looks like this. Note, I have also selected a theme, so don't panic if yours looks different. One important thing below is that I can change the category of the RSS feeds I want to watch.

Note: The RSS feeds on many sites, (i.e. craigslist.org), are delayed from the normal posts.

Also, the best part is that you can look at many of the feed items without going to the websites!!

Summary: You can see bits of websites without visiting them. I can't browse all of the websites I am interested in on a regular basis so I subscribe to the RSS feeds and only follow through to the feed items I really want to see in more detail. This is great for watching for deals.

References:
RSS (Wikipedia)
RSS Reader (Wikipedia)
Official Google Reader Blog

Wisdom: Your budget should outweigh the savings or benefit. Don't get buried to your neck in debt for a good deal.

What could be cooler than Doctor Who Classic?

2008-03-08T10:28:00.003-05:00

Doctor Who Classic. Can you believe there were eight doctors!? I remember doctor number four the most. Now, years later, you can buy Doctor Who toys on ThinkGeek! Every kid should have a Dalek. Don't let me fool you, I am a horribly pathetic Doctor Who fan. I have had very little access to watch it and haven't seen it on TV for a long time.

I do have the Doctor Who theme song as an mp3 ringer on my phone!